A Summer to Remember. Sue Moorcroft

her knuckles were white, her composure was only a very thin skin deep.

      Aaron had never been able to kick people while they were down and rarely refused to give help where it was needed – leaving aside the current uncomfortable situation with Genevieve. Nelson was only one in a succession of badly off animals he’d adopted at one time or another. He dragged up a breath from the pit of his lungs and let it out in a gusty sigh. ‘OK. I’ll get my truck. We’ll fetch the furniture.’

      A noisy swallow, then she replied, simply, ‘Thank you. May I walk along with you?’

      ‘Of course,’ he muttered.

      She locked up the Roundhouse with city-dweller punctiliousness. They began up Long Lane through the dappled sunlight created by laburnum trees, the last of their yellow blossoms floating down around them. They headed into the village before swinging towards the north side of the headland. May was mild this year and the sunshine stroked Aaron’s skin with warm hands. ‘I live further up the lane in Potato Hall Row,’ he volunteered. Having made the decision not to hurl further impediments in Clancy’s way – though he wasn’t particularly looking forward to the little chat he’d soon need to have with his family – he went on: ‘Long Lane loops right around this side of the village as far as the B&B and The Green, towards the furthest point of the headland. Then Marshview Road takes over and comes back round.’ He swept his arm in a long U-shape.

      Clancy’s hair blew in a sudden gust of wind and she smiled faintly, as if enjoying the freshness of the air. ‘Alice took me around the village a couple of times when I was here before but I don’t remember much. Do your parents live somewhere near here?’

      ‘Frenchmen’s Way. This turning we’re coming up to.’

      Neither of them said anything about the shared kiss in his parents’ garden one night, a long time ago, as they passed the opening to Frenchmen’s Way. Long Lane continued to bear right and slope upwards. Clancy strode out beside him. ‘Are your parents going to mind me being with you to pick up the furniture? Or Lee? Perhaps, to follow the alliterative style of Awful Alice,’ she went on ruminatively, ‘they’ll call me Crappy Clancy.’

      ‘They won’t be there,’ he admitted frankly, at the same time wishing he hadn’t told her about the Awful Alice thing. ‘Dad’s at work and Lee’s taken Mum shopping before my great-aunt comes home. Aunt Norma lives in an annexe at De Silva House.’

      ‘That’s nice.’ Clancy sounded genuinely touched at this sign of family love. ‘Oh, look! Those flint cottages are so pretty.’

      ‘That’s Potato Hall Row,’ he answered. ‘Mine’s the furthest one, the one with the workshop attached.’

      She nodded absently. ‘How have you and I emailed so regularly if there’s no internet in the village?’

      He was thrown by the sudden question and was sure, from the way she watched him out of the corner of her eye, that he was meant to be. ‘I have satellite broadband.’

      ‘Ah,’ she said, raising her eyebrows. ‘So the thing about no internet was fake news. How about no pub, no shop …?’

      ‘There is no pub or shop,’ he said defensively, though he wasn’t sure whether she was teasing him or was actually annoyed. ‘There are a few places in the village with satellite broadband, but you can’t get it everywhere because of the conservation area, listed buildings, and even preservation orders on trees that block the signal.’

      ‘Oh. I see the issue.’ She frowned. ‘As one of the owners of Roundhouse Row, couldn’t you share your internet access with the caretaker?’

      ‘I could,’ he admitted. ‘Evelyn wasn’t keen on learning to do things online so it didn’t come up. So many people ask to hook up with it that I suppose I’ve become wary of reaching my data limit before the end of the month. People are always asking to “just borrow” my connection. I change my password a lot.

      ‘Here’s the truck,’ he added unnecessarily as he stopped beside the big silver pickup with De Silva Landscaping on the side. He beeped it open.

      ‘But,’ Clancy began again. She was interrupted by Genevieve suddenly rounding the side of his house, waving energetically, the breeze making her long blonde hair wave too. Nelson yanked at his lead so Aaron let him bound over to fling himself at her, not sure how he felt about Gen’s unscheduled appearance. It was new and not particularly welcome for her to hang around him so much. Before she’d tried to solve her housing issue by moving their relationship up a level, she’d been a warm, fun, independent girlfriend who’d seemed as content as Aaron to include a relationship in her life but not make it the be-all and end-all.

      ‘There you are!’ Genevieve fussed Nelson but looked at Aaron as she spoke, as if she was talking to a little boy who’d wandered off. ‘You’re out early. I heard about your aunt and came to see if I could help.’ Then she looked at Clancy with a half-smile of enquiry.

      ‘The village grapevine hasn’t taken long with the news about Aunt Norma’s ankle,’ he said drily. ‘She’ll be OK. This is Clancy Moss. She’s going to move into the Roundhouse and take Evelyn’s job.’

      Genevieve’s smile broadened. ‘Oh, the Clancy who’s Alice’s cousin? Maybe we met when you were here for … anyway, welcome to Nelson’s Bar. Are you moving from very far away?’

      Clancy sent Aaron a glance, as if divining that Genevieve had been going to say for Lee’s wedding and noting that she’d thought better of it. ‘From London. We’re just going to pick up the furniture from Aaron’s parents’ house.’ Clancy smiled pleasantly and didn’t remark on Genevieve knowing Alice. Everyone knew everyone in Nelson’s Bar.

      Genevieve immediately hurried to join them at the truck. ‘I’ll help you.’ And before Aaron could react, she’d ushered Nelson into the back seat of the cab and taken her customary spot in the front.

      ‘Thank you,’ said Clancy politely, climbing into the back alongside the dog. Aaron suspected that Clancy took refuge in absolute courtesy when she didn’t want people to read her too accurately.

      He took the driver’s seat and Genevieve twisted round as Aaron turned in the road, telling Clancy about her favourite subject: waking up one day to a substantial crack in her kitchen wall and discovering the ground was subsiding around the foundations of her cottage. ‘There must have been water leaking underground for ages, the builder thinks.’

      Reaching De Silva House in less than a minute, Aaron reversed up to the double doors in the storage area beneath Aunt Norma’s flat, and they all climbed out of the truck.

      Aaron turned to Clancy. ‘You’ll appreciate that Lee long ago disposed of his half of their furniture.’ He hauled one of the doors open with a rumble and a creak to reveal a dim interior of sheets flung over large objects.

      They began removing dust sheets – disturbing a lot of dust – and assessed what lay beneath. ‘Two beds, a sofa and chairs, a couple of tables and a cabinet. Might as well take it all.’ Aaron indicated a stack of boxes. ‘These came from the Roundhouse too.’ The boxes contained crockery and kitchen equipment, books and ornaments. Then came Alice’s things. Clothes and shoes. Dusty make-up. An outdated laptop and a jumble of pens and paperwork.

      Clancy stared at it all. ‘I hadn’t thought about what happened to Alice’s things. I suppose I ought to take them rather than leave them to inconvenience your parents.’

      Genevieve came to peer over her shoulder. ‘Where is Alice these days, anyway? Can’t you send them to her? We were quite friendly when she lived here but now I never hear from her at all.’

      ‘I have an email address. I don’t actually know where she is,’ said Clancy absently, folding the flaps of the box closed again. ‘She moves around a lot.’

      Genevieve sounded fascinated. ‘How mysterious she became! Did she really just sneak out while you were on the phone that day?’

      ‘If you